Digital cameras (electronic still cameras) designed to electronically store photographed images instead of recording them on films have recently become popular. In such a digital camera, when the photographer presses the shutter, an image of an object to be photographed which is received through the photographing lens is sensed by an image sensing element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device). The resultant data is subjected to data compression and the like and stored as image data in an internal memory.
Some digital cameras have panorama photographing functions of photographing landscape or portrait object images (panorama images) at angles wider than normal angle.
Assume that a picture is taken by using a panorama photographing function of the type that generates a panorama image by synthesizing a plurality of consecutively photographed images. In this case, when the plurality of images constituting the panorama image are reproduced/displayed one by one by the same method as that for the images photographed in the normal photographing mode, the respective images constituting the panorama image are separately displayed. That is, the panorama photographing function cannot be satisfactorily used.
Assume that a picture is taken by using a panorama photographing function of the above type or a panorama photographing function of the type that generates a panorama image by cutting the upper and lower or left and right portions of a photographed image at a predetermined ratio. In this case, if the panorama image is displayed at once, the upper and lower or left and right portions of the display unit inevitably become non-display portions. As a result, the panorama image is displayed in a considerably small size. In this case, the panorama photographing function cannot be satisfactorily used either.